Politics
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Editorial: Where are the docs? -- Trump attempts to wriggle out of Epstein disclosures
Dead six years, child sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein is causing a problem for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party and has now caught House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is backflipping wildly.
This week, the Trump toady lived up to that description by sending the House out of town early on its month-long summer recess right as bipartisan ...Read more

Mark Gongloff: Hiding weather data harms more than hurricane forecasts
The Butterfly Effect is the chaos-theory idea that the flapping of an insect’s tiny wings can influence massive weather events far removed from it in distance and time. It may overstate the importance of butterflies, but it is a reminder of how small actions can have larger, unforeseen consequences.
An even clearer example is the Trump ...Read more

Editorial: Trump has long promoted conspiracy nonsense. He deserves this ironic blowup
When you consider all the damnable behavior that congressional Republicans have meekly accepted from President Donald Trump — his frequent and blatant constitutional violations, his deranged cabinet appointments, his reckless dismantling of much of the federal government, and most of all what should have been the permanently disqualifying ...Read more

POINT: Yes, America's national debt is a crisis
In their classic book “This time is different: Eight hundred years of financial folly,” Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart found that over the centuries, a high public debt level has been among the most reliable indicators of future financial crises.
It is a pity that Rogoff and Reinhart’s findings seem to have escaped President Donald ...Read more

Editorial: Greens target another clean Nevada energy project
Green energy advocates insist that Nevada can be a leader in the field given its natural resources and copious sunshine. But that would require the development of those resources — something many of those same green activists aren’t prepared to abide by.
The U.S. Geological Survey in May concluded that geothermal energy in Nevada’s Great ...Read more

Editorial: Texas is talking tax cuts. Illinois? More hikes
The phrase “there are two Americas” has many meanings. It can mean that there are two justice systems: one for the rich and one for the poor. It can mean right and left. Rural and urban. Ketchup and … the right way to eat a hot dog.
When it comes to taxes and spending, state leaders often split into two camps, too — one that talks about...Read more

Beth Kowitt: The Astronomer CEO's Coldplay moment is a textbook fiasco
With Coldplaygate on track to become one of the most viral moments of the year, you would think this is the first time in history that a CEO has gotten busted for having what certainly seems to be an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.
Well, let me tell you — this is far from the truth. As someone who covers corporate America, CEOs...Read more

Commentary: Courts can protect trans health care by recognizing patient-physician privilege
Information, in the second Trump administration, is a currency of power and fear. Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced sweeping subpoenas targeting physicians and medical providers who offer care for transgender youth. The aim is not to initiate prosecutions: Indeed, the legal theories upon which such prosecutions might rest are ...Read more

Commentary: Are self-help books really helping us?
If you’re a reader, and you’re on Instagram, chances are the algorithm has fed you posts promising that “this book will change your life” or touting “five books that made me successful.” These claims are compelling. They make me pause and ask a deeper question: Are self-help books really helping us?
I’ll say this up front: One ...Read more

Commentary: Immigration spying has inglorious past
In the early 1900s, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration created a special “Chinese Division” to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was the first major U.S. immigration law to ban entry based on race and nationality. Federal agents were sent to Mexican border towns and tasked with secretly photographing, tracking and cataloging ...Read more

Michael Hiltzik: Found! A US government service that really works
In these days when it seems like the current administration couldn't organize a utensil drawer, what with a military parade witnessed by empty bleachers and immigrant dragnets snaring American citizens and such, it seems like it would be a shock to find a government function that, you know, actually works.
I found it.
On June 14, I applied to ...Read more

LZ Granderson: Eliminating national holidays is a promising idea. Start with the racist ones
Believe it or not, France has had a form of social security since the 1600s, and its modern system began in earnest in 1910, when the world's life expectancy was just 32 years old. Today the average human makes it to 75 and for the French, it's 83, among the highest in Europe.
Great news for French people, bad news for their pensions.
Because ...Read more

Commentary: Ending the HIV epidemic is in sight. We can't stop now
Thanks to decades of sustained federal investment, Chicago, Cook County and Illinois are on the cusp of ending the HIV epidemic in our city, county and state. This remarkable progress is a testament to programs such as the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act, established in 1990 to provide crucial health care to those ...Read more

Commentary: Old-school manufacturing is gone and is not coming back
The president is fixated on bringing manufacturing back to the United States. The idea to “save manufacturing” makes for good sound bites but does not appreciate how much the U.S. economy has changed from the time when manufacturing jobs were a central part of the workforce.
Looking more closely at U.S. employment trends, the Bureau of ...Read more

Justin Fox: NYC's subway is actually safer than your car
At a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in Washington last week, Representative Jerry Nadler of Manhattan and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy squared off over the safety of New York City’s subways. A snippet:
NADLER: Are you aware that major crimes on MTA are down 3% since last year and down 8% since ...Read more

Commentary: The deaths in Texas are on the GOP's hands
The horrific flash flood in Texas has left at least 130 dead (including 36 children), and three are still missing. As with most extreme weather events today, it needs to be repeated loudly and clearly: The extreme flooding was made significantly more likely due to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
After disasters such as these,...Read more

Commentary: Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu don't have the same goals
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump met at the White House in early July for the third time this year, the two men were all smiles. Trump heaped praise on the Israeli premier (and himself) for a job well done on Iran, insisting yet again that the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes against Tehran’s nuclear ...Read more

Editorial: Bureaucratic excess
Democrats have been all aflutter for the past six months over the possibility that President Donald Trump might ignore a Supreme Court decision that isn’t to his liking. Where’s the similar concern for federal bureaucrats who act as if they’re immune from judicial orders?
In 2023, the Supreme Court reined in the power of the Environmental...Read more
George Skelton: Newsom needs to stop kidding around. He's running for president
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — No outsider politicians venture into sultry South Carolina in July unless they are running for president.
Certainly not a West Coast politician. Especially a California governor who lives in delightful Marin County near wonderful cool beaches. A governor who could easily vacation at spectacular Big Sur or hike a ...Read more

Robin Abcarian: A new film about the Ohio State wrestling team sex abuse scandal indicts those who looked away
For more than 30 years, Fred Feeney refereed matches for the Ohio State University's powerhouse wrestling team.
Unlike the dozens of young men whose athletic scholarships depended on staying in the good graces of the team doctor, Richard Strauss, who could withhold permission for them to compete, Feeney didn't have to persuade himself that what...Read more